POLYCARP
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POLYCARP
monstrance (a long extract from which is preserved by
Eusebius, H. E., V, xx), in which he recalled their
common recollections of Poly carp: "These opinions
. . . Florinus are not of sound judgment ... I saw
thee when I was still a boy in Lower Asia in company
with Polycarp, while thou wast faring prosperously in
the royal court, and endeavouring to stand well with
him. For I distinctly remember the incidents of that
time better than events of recent occurrence. ... I
can describe the very place in which the Blessed Poly-
carp used to sit when he discoursed . . . his per-
sonal appearance . . . and how he would describe his
intercourse with John and with the rest who had seen
the Lord, and how he would relate their words ... I
can testify in the sight of God, that if the blessed and
apostolic elder had heard anjihing of this kind, he
would have cried out, and stopped his ears, and said
after his wont, 'O good God, for what times hast thou
kept me that I should endure such things?' . . . This
can be shown from the letters which he wrote to the
neighbouring Churches for their confirmation etc.".
Lightfoot (op. cit., 4-18) will not fix the date of the time
when St. Irenteus and Florinus were fellow-pupils of
St. Polycarp more definitely than somewhere between
135 and 150. There are in fact no data to go upon.
(c) The visit of St. Polycarp to Rome is described by St. Irena>us in a letter to Pope Victor wTitten under the following circumstances. The Asiatic Christians differed from the rest of the Church in their manner of observing Easter. While the other Churches kept the feast on a Sunday, the Asiatics celebrated it on the 14th of Nisan, whatever day of the week this might fall on. Pope Victor tried to establish uniformity, and when the Asiatic Churches refused to comply, excommunicated them. St. Irenceus remonstrated with him in a letter, part of which is preserved by Eusebius (H. E., V, x.xiv), in which he particularly con- trasted the moderation displayed in regard to Poly- carp by Pope Anicetus with the conduct of Victor. "Among these (\'ictor's predecessors) were the pres- byters before Soter. They neither observed it (14th Nisan) themselves, nor did they permit those after them to do so. And yet, though not observing it, they were none the less at peace with those who came to them from the parishes in which it was observed. . . . And when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things, they immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over this mat- ter. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp . . . nor Polycarp Anicetus. . . . But though mat- ters were in this shape, they communed together, and Anicetus conceded the administration of the Eucharist in the Church to Polycarp, manifestly as a mark of respect. And they parted from each other in peace", etc.
There is a chronological difficulty connected with this visit of Polycarp to Rome. According to the Chronicle of Eusebius in St. Jerome's version (the Armenian version is quite untrustworthy) the date of Anicetus's accession was A. D. 156-57. Now the prob- able date of St. Polycarp's martyrdom is February, 155. The fact of the visit to Rome is too well attested to be called into question. We must, therefore, either give up the date of the martyrdom, or suppose that Eusebius po.st-dated by a year or two the accession of Anicetus. There is nothing unreasonable in this latter hypothesis, in view of the uncertainty which so generally prevails in chronological matters (for the date of the accession of Anicetus see Lightfoot, "St. Clement I", 343).
(d) We now come to the passage in St. Irena>U9 (Adv. Ila'r., Ill, 3) which brings out in fullest relief St. Polycarp's position as a link with the past. Just as St. John's long life lengthened out the Ajiostolic Age, 80 did the four score and six years of Polycarp extend the sub-Apostolic Age, during which it was pos-
sible to learn by word of mouth what the Apostles
taught from those who had been their hearers. In
Rome the Apostolic Age ended about a. d. 67 with the
martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the sub-
Apostolic Age about a quarter of a century later when
St. Clement, "who had seen the blessed Apostles",
died. In Asia the Apostolic Age lingered on till St.
John died about a. d. 100; and the sub-Apostolic Age
till 155, when St. Polycarp was martyred. In the third
book of his treatise "Against Heresies" St. Irenaeus
makes his celebrated appeal to the "successions" of
the bishops in all the churches. He is arguing against
heretics who professed to have a kind of esoteric tra-
dition derived from the Apostles. To whom, de-
mands St. Irena-us, would the Apostles be more likely
to commit hidden mysteries than to the bishops to
whom they entrusted the churches? In order then to
know what the Apostles taught, we must have recourse
to the "successions" of bishops throughout the world.
But as time and space would fail if we tried to enu-
merate them all one by one, let the Roman Church
speak for the rest. Their agreement with her is a
manifest fact by reason of the position which she
holds among them ("for with this Church on account
of its potior prindpaliias the whole Church, that is,
the faithful from every quarter, must needs agree",
etc.).
Then follows the list of the Roman bishops down to Eleutherius, the twelfth from the Apostles, the ninth from Clement, "who had both seen and conversed with the blessed Apostles ' ' . From the Roman Church, representing all the churches, the writer then passes on to two Churches, that of Smyrna, in which, in the person of Polycarp, the sub-Apostolic Age had been carried down to a time still within living memory, and the Church of Ephesus, where, in the person of St. John, the ."Vpostolic Age had been prolonged till "the times of Trajan". Of Polycarp he says, "he was not only taught by the Apostles, and lived in familiar intercourse with many that had seen Christ, but also received his appointment in Asia from the Apostles as Bishop in the church of Smyrna". He then goes on to speak of his own personal acquaintance with Poly- carp, his martyrdom, and his visit to Rome, where he converted many heretics. He then continues, "there are those who heard him tell how John, the disciple of the Lord, when he went to take a bath in Ephesus, and saw Cerinthus within, rushed away from the room without bathing, with the words 'Let us flee lest the room should fall in, for Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within'. Yea, and Polj'carp himself, also, when on one occasion Marcion confronted him and said 'Recognise us', replied, 'Ay, ay, I recognise the first-born of Satan' ".
(4) Polycarp's martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smj-rna to the Church of Philo- melium "and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church ", etc. The letter begins with an ac- count of the persecution and the heroism of the mar- tyrs. Conspicuous among them was one Germanicus, who encouraged the rest, and when exposed to the wild beasts, incited them to slay him. His death stirred the fury of the multitude, and the cry was raised " Away with the atheists; let search be made for Polycarp". But there was one Quintus, who of his own accord had given himself up to the persecutors. When he saw the wild beasts he lost heart and apos- tatized. "Wherefore", comment the writers of the epistle, "we praise not those who deliver themselves up, since the Gospel does not so teach us". Polycarp was persuaded by his friends to leave the city and con- ceal liimscif in a farm-hnusc. I lerc he s])ont his time in prayer, "and while praying he falieth into a trance three days licfore his apprehension; ami lie saw his pil- low burning with fire. And he (urned and said unto those that- were with him, 'it must needs be that I shall be burned aUve'." When his pursuers were on
